UFC on FUEL TV 8: March 2, 2013 Saitama, Japan UFC Middleweight Contender Hector Lombard (-230) Profile: Hector Lombard (32-3-1) bounced back from a very disappoining UFC debut against Tim Boetsch by scoring a first-round knockout of Rousimar Palhares at UFC on FX 6. The former Bellator middlweight champion has a fourth-degree black belt in Judo and was originally slated to make his first appearance with the organization at UFC 78, but visa issues prevented that from happening. Lombard was 24-0-1 in his previous 25 fights before losing to Boetsch, with his only previous setbacks coming against Akihiro Gono and Gegard Mousasi, both by unanimous decision in the 2006 PRIDE Bushido Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament. The 34-year-old Cuban blamed his poor performance vs. Boetsch on injuries suffered during training and looked a lot more like the fighter MMA fans expected against Palhares. UFC Middleweight Contender Yushin Okami (+170) Profile: The last person to technically ‘”defeat” UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, Yushin Okami (28-7) has had a masterful run in the UFC, going 12-4 since 2006. He has enjoyed big wins over such names as Alan Belcher (twice), Mike Swick, Mark Munoz, Nate Marquardt and the late Evan Tanner to name a few. Okami has always been hovering near the top of the MMA middleweight rankings, and in 2011 he finally got his shot to fight for the title at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro against champion Silva in a rematch of a previous fight. However, Silva made quick work of Okami, defeating him via TKO in the second round. The 31-year-old Japanese fighter looked to bounce back in his home country of Japan against rising middleweight Tim Boetsch at UFC 144, and after two dominant rounds in his favor, he was caught by a barrage of fists and lost by TKO in the third. Okami ended the first two-fight losing streak of his career with a KO of Buddy Roberts at UFC 150 and followed that up by beating Belcher for the second time at UFC 155 to close out 2012. Opening UFC on FUEL TV 8 Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Lombard a moderate -230 favorite (bet $230 to win $100) while Okami opened as a +170 underdog (bet $100 to win $170) at Several Bookmakers sportsbook. Lombard finally showed all the doubters what they wanted to see from him in his UFC debut against Boetsch when he dismantled Palhares in December. He is still somewhat of an enigma though and will have to pass another difficult test here against Okami, who is a crafty and smart fighter. Okami knows how to score points and has been on the right side of decisions the last three times his bouts went to the judges. However, he should also be very leery of Lombard’s power because his last two losses both came via TKO. Lombard’s last five wins have all been stoppages (four by TKO/KO and one submission), and he can prove he is for real and a force to be reckoned with in the UFC’s middleweight division with another impressive victory vs. Okami.
